Universal Access to Knowledge as Justice

Sor Juana fought for women's right to education and intellectual participation in her era when knowledge was gatekept by religious and state institutions. This fight connects directly to corruption: when only elites understand law, finance, or governance, they exploit information asymmetries for personal gain while others cannot detect wrongdoing. Universal access to knowledge—education, public records, technical expertise—levels this field. It means making financial disclosures comprehensible, explaining complex policies in accessible language, and ensuring marginalized communities understand systems affecting them. Sor Juana's tradition insists knowledge is not privilege but necessity for justice. Modern anti-corruption depends on this: transparency laws fail if only lawyers understand them; audit findings matter only if citizens can grasp them. Supporting scientific literacy, legal education, and civic knowledge becomes corruption prevention. When power is distributed through widespread understanding, corruption becomes harder to hide and harder to perpetrate without detection.